Garment



' B'. STREGER ETAL- 2,340,626

GARMENT Feb. 1,1944.

Filed Aug. 15 1842 I ezzj'zz'zifffyf jar@ fie/'da www.

Patented Feb. 1, 1944 GARMEN T Benjamin Strenger and Dora Herdan, Philadelphia, Pa.

Application August 15, 1942, Serial No. 454,964

1 Claim.

The present invention relates to garments and more particularly to improved means for maintaining a garment such as a mans shirt or a womans waist in proper position at the waistline of the wearer.

An essential feature of the invention consists in forming the body of the garment with an integral depending short yoke, and folding the fabric over and upawardly on one side of the garment and then downwardly to provide a circumferentially disposed flat pleat of substantial width at the waist line. The pleat is secured to the body of the garment by stitching spaced from the upper edge of the pleat so that the portion of the pleat above the stitching on one side of the garment, constitutes an upwardly and outwardly or laterally extending flexible projection which extends completely around the garment, so as to engage the body of the wearer r an enclosing garment in order to resist creeping of the garment upwardly, and which would otherwise give an objectionable and unsightly appearance to the garment.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying claim and drawing.

Referring to the drawing:

Figure l is a front view of a shirt having my invention associated therewith, and showing one of the front flaps raised,

Figure 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially along the line 2-2 of Figure 1J and Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional view of a modified form of the invention.

Referring to the drawing, in which like numerals indicate like lparts in the several views, I designates a garment, which for the purpose of illustration, is shown as a mans shirt made of any suitable fabric. The front of the body II 1 is divided into overlapping flaps I2 and I3, One

of the flaps such as I2 has secured thereto spaced vertically disposed fastening means such as the buttons I5 arranged to cooperate with the buttonholes I5 on the other flap I3 for fastening the flaps together.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the body II has an integral short yoke I5 depending therefrom. The fabric between the body II and the yoke I5 is folded over and upwardly at II for a substantial distance (Fig. 2) on the inner side of the garment, then is turned downwardly at I8 to produce a circumferentially disposed thickened flat pleat I9 extending completely around the garment at the waist-line of the wearer. Spaced longitudinal upper and lower rows of stitching 20 and 2I respectively secure the pleat I9 to the body II of the garment. However, any other suitable types of stitching may be used. The upper row of stitching 2B is spaced from the upper edge of the pleat I9 so that the por` tion of the pleat above the same on the inside of the garment, constitutes an upwardly and inwardly extending flexible projection 22 coextensive in length with the garment, and so ar ranged as to engage or comfortably press against the body of the wearer to resist rmly the tendency of the shirt to creep upwardly or pull away from the trousers. The lower outwardly projecting flexible portion II is similarly spaced from the stitching 2| and is arranged to engage an enclosing garment to prevent the garment slipping downwardly. Thus, means are provided on the inside and outside of the garment to resist the garment creeping upwardly or slipping downwardly at the waistline. The portion of the pleat I9 between the stitching 20 and 2| is smooth and flat and provides a reinforcement for the garment between the body and the yoke at a point subjected to the greatest strain.

Suitable fastening means such as the spaced buttons 23 and 24 are secured to the outer surface of the pleat I9 on the flap I2 (Fig. l) and are arranged selectively to engage a buttonhole 25 formed in the portion of the pleat on the opposite iiap I3 and constitute fastening means secured to the pleat I9 for adjusting the peripheral length of the pleat to insure a snug and proper t over the hips of the wearer of the garment without any binding effect.

Manifestly, various other types of fastening means such as snaps, hooks or the like may be used for fastening the front flaps and the opposite sides of the pleat. Moreover, any number of longitudinally spaced fasteners may be provided so that the shirt will properly lit the.

wearer at the waist-line.

It will be seen that the short integral yoke I6 aords a substantial saving in the material required to make the shirt, as compared with an ordinary shirt which has a long shirt tail, much of which serves no useful purpose, and is really a waste of material. Moreover, one or more rows of stitching may be used for securing the pleat to the body of the garment and the stitching may include up and down stitches or quilting which terminate short of the upper edge of the pleat so as to insure the formation of the flexible circumferentially disposed projection 22.

In the modified form of the invention shown in Figure 3, the body 26 of the shirt or garment has an integra-1 short flap 21, and the garment between the body and the flap is folded outwardly and upwardly as at 28 for a substantial distance, and downwardly and outwardly at 21% to form the iiat thickened pleat 3i! which extends completely around the outside of the garment at the waistline. The pleat 3!) is secured to the outside of the garment by the spaced rows of stitching 3l and 32 and the portion of the p-leat above the upper row or stitching 3i extends out-` wardly therefrom to form a flexible projection .'53 arranged to engage an enclosing garment so as to prevent the shirt from creeping upwardly or outwardly relative thereto. The lower Eexible portion 28 on the inside of the garment is arranged to engage the body of the wearer to prevent the garment from slipping downwardly. 1t will be seen that the flexible projections 2S and 2S Iprovide means for insuring the garment being held in proper position at the waistline.

While the invention has been shown associated with a mans or boys shirt to maintain the lower` portion thereof in place, it will be manifest that the same may also be eiciently used with a womans or girls waist or blouse. 1t will be observed that in both forms or the invention the pleat is provided with an upwardly eXtending integral free portion or projection which extends outwardly from one side of the pleat and a downwardly extending iiexible portion which coacts with the upwardly extending portion to maintain the shirt or waist within the trousers or skirt of the wearer and thus provides simple, eiicient and positive means for preventing the lower portion of the garment from creeping upwardly or slipping downwardly and thus preventing an unsightly or objectionable appearance.

It will be understood that the several forms of the invention shown are merely illustrative of preferred embodiments and that the invention comprehends within its scope such changes as fall within the following claim.

We claim:

A garment formed from a single continuous piece of fabric including a body having a short yoke depending therefrom, said fabric between thebody and the yoke being folded over and Yupwardly a substantial distance on one side of the garment, then downwardly to produce a circumierentially disposed iiat pleat at the waistline of the wearer, and stitching securing the pleat to the garment, said stitiching being spaced from the upper and lower edges of the pleat so that one end portion of the pleat extends inwardly and the other outwardly from the gar-` ment to provide flexible projections, one of which projections is arranged to engage the body of the wearer and the other an enclosing garment so as to resist the garment creeping upwardly or slipping downwardly at the waistline.

BENJAMIN STRENGER. DORA HERDAN. 

